A Marauder's Life For Me
by astronomylover
Summary: James and Lily each have their own group of friends. They are both complete opposites. Watch how they go through seven years of Hogwarts starting out as enemies and ending as a couple. LilyJames, SiriusOC, RemusOC. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**A Marauder's Life For Me**

Chapter 1

"Master James, you is going to be late!" Margarette, the Potters' house elf, called up the stairs.

"Coming, Mar!" James yelled, sticking his head out his bedroom door. "I'll be down in a minute!"

James Potter was an eleven year old boy who had black hair and glasses. He had inherited his hair from his father, Harold. It was always messy and unruly, no matter what he did to it, but that didn't bother James one bit. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, stuffing his wand in the pocket of his jeans as he made to leave the bedroom. However, before he left, he ruffled his hair in front of the mirror, making it look windswept. Smiling at his reflection, he darted out of the bedroom and slid down the staircase banister, landing with a THUMP on the floor in the foyer. He then walked casually into the kitchen, grinning madly.

"James, _how_ many times do I have to ask you not to slide down the banister before you actually listen?" James's mother, Sabrina, asked.

"Many, many times," Harold replied.

James sat down at the breakfast table as Margarette brought over a plate of scrambled eggs and began serving them to the family.

"Dad, when are we leaving for King's Cross?" James asked.

Harold looked over at the clock that was hanging on the kitchen wall. It read 9:30 AM. He then turned to look back at James.

"How about 10:35? That gives you plenty of time to finish packing your trunk, plus extra time in case we run into traffic on the road," Harold replied.

"Okay," James said brightly.

When James finished eating, he went back up to his bedroom to finish packing his trunk. His books were neatly stacked inside, but his robes were sitting in piles on his bed. He picked up the robes and threw them unceremoniously into his trunk. He made to stand up when a knock sounded on the door, making him jump and hit his head on the inside of the trunk lid.

"OUCH!" James exclaimed, furiously massaging the spot on his head where it had hit the trunk.

"Sorry, hun," Sabrina said. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to give you something. It's a going-away present from your father and me."

In her left hand was a small cage, and inside was a baby tawny owl that was twittering madly.

"Wow, Mum! An owl!" James said, walking over and taking the cage from her.

"It still needs a name," Harold said, joining Sabrina on the landing in front of his son's room.

"How about Merlin?" Sabrina suggested.

"I like it. However, the question is do _you_ like it?" James asked, looking at the baby owl in its cage.

"Hoo!" the baby owl said.

"I'll take that as a yes," James said with a grin.

The Potters reached King's Cross by 10:50. James walked through the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10, and Platform 9¾ materialized in front of him; Harold and Sabrina followed with James's trunk.

"Wow," James said softly, staring at the magnificent scarlet steam engine that was the Hogwarts Express.

James put his trunk in one of the train's compartments, and then rejoined his mother and father on the platform.

"I'll miss you," James said.

"We'll miss you too," Sabrina said, "but I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time."

"Mum, I've been waiting to go to Hogwarts for a really long time. Of course I'll have a good time."

"Okay, I _know_ you'll have a good time. Just try to stay out of trouble."

"I'll try," James said seriously, but turned to grin at his dad when his mother wasn't looking.

The train's warning whistle blew, signaling that it was time to board.

"I love you, James," Sabrina said, kissing him on the forehead.

"Mum, stop," James said as he struggled to get away.

Sabrina rolled her eyes as she let go of her son.

"Send us owls," Harold put in as he ruffled James's hair.

"I will," James said as he stepped onto the Hogwarts Express.

The train began to move, and James waved from the compartment window until it turned a corner, losing sight of Platform 9¾. He continued to look out the window until a knock sounded on the compartment door.

"Come in," James said.

In walked a boy of about James's height. He had long black hair that fell elegantly into his gray eyes, and looked (to James) to be about his own age. The boy put his trunk in the overhead compartment, and sat down in the seat across from James.

"Hi," James said to the boy. "I'm James Potter."

"Sirius Black. I'm starting Hogwarts this year. What year are you?"

"I'm a first year too," James replied. "Or I will be, once I'm sorted."

"Good. So I know at least one person who's in my year," Sirius said.

"Sounds like I've made a friend," James said, grinning.

James and Sirius each bought some food off the trolley cart when it came around. About fifteen minutes after that, there was another knock on the door, and a girl with brown hair down to her shoulders opened it.

"Hey, Sirius!" the girl said.

"You know her?" James asked, looking from the girl in the doorway to Sirius.

"Yeah, this is my cousin Andromeda. Andromeda, I'd like you to meet my new friend James Potter."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, James," Andromeda said with a smile.

"Andromeda's starting this year, too," Sirius explained as a second girl entered the compartment and placed her hand on Andromeda's shoulder.

"Oh, hey Bella," Andromeda said, smiling at her.

"Another cousin?" James asked with a smirk.

"Yes," Sirius said, his voice distinctly colder. "James, this is Bellatrix. She's _also_ starting this year."

"It's Bella, get it right," she shot at Sirius. "Pleasure, James."

Andromeda, sensing the tension between Bellatrix and Sirius, thought frantically for something to say. If the two of them were left together for too long, there was bound to be trouble. Finally, she thought of something to say.

"Come, Bella, let's go find Narcissa. She's probably been looking for us."

"Okay. Nice meeting you, James. Sirius," Bellatrix said, scowling at him as she and Andromeda left the compartment.

Sirius laughed sourly as the compartment door shut behind the two girls.

"Won't she be in for a surprise when she finds out you're a Potter," he said, looking at James.

"Is that a problem?" James asked, raising his voice defensively.

"Not to me, no," Sirius replied, sighing. "But it will be to my family."

"What do you mean?" James asked questioningly.

"Well, you see, everyone in my family – with the exception of Andromeda and myself – is a big supporter of Voldemort," Sirius said.

"I've been hearing his name crop up more and more often lately," James said. "My parents are Aurors, you see. However, it doesn't matter what your family's like. It only matters to me what _you're_ like. And in my opinion, you're fine."

Sirius's depressed expression turned into a grin as another knock sounded on the door.

"Come in," Sirius said.

A pale boy with light brown hair and blue eyes opened the door. He was only a little bit shorter than James and Sirius, but you couldn't tell, seeing as both of them were seated.

"May I join you?" the boy asked.

"Sure," James replied. "I don't see why not."

"I'm Remus Lupin," the boy said as he struggled to get his trunk in the overhead compartment.

"James Potter," James said as Remus sat down next to him, "and this is Sirius Black."

"It's nice to meet both of you," Remus said.

"You seem like a nice guy," Sirius said, looking at Remus as though sizing him up. "We can all be friends."

James, Sirius, and Remus stepped off the train at Hogsmeade Station. They had left their stuff on the train because, according to the conductor, it would be taken up to the castle separately.

A voice called out to the students, "Firs' years this way!" It was the voice of Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts Gamekeeper.

"Hey, Hagrid!" James called, running to catch up with him.

"You must be James Potter," Hagrid said, looking down at James and smiling. "Yeh look jus' like Harry. How are yeh?"

"Fine, Hagrid. Are we supposed to follow you?" James asked.

"Yeah, follow me ter the boats," Hagrid replied.

James followed Hagrid; Remus and Sirius followed a little ways behind James, staring at him incredulously.

"You know him?" Remus asked, looking at the back of Hagrid's immense form.

"Yeah, my parents were friends of his when they were here," James replied.

"Is he nice?" Sirius asked.

"Oh yeah. He's one of the nicest people you could ever meet," James said loyally.

"No more'n four ter a boat," Hagrid called to the first years that had followed him to the shore.

Sirius, Remus, and James got into one of the small boats and were joined by a short, blond haired boy who looked extremely nervous.

"What's your name?" Remus asked the boy.

"Peter Pettigrew," he answered quietly.

"Well, I'm Remus Lupin, and this is James Potter and Sirius Black," Remus said, smiling at Peter.

The boats, which had been gliding silently across the lake, clanked gently against the harbor wall. The four boys got out, walked up the steps carved into the stone, and entered the castle through the double doors at the top. Waiting for the new students in the corridor was a stern looking woman; she wore square spectacles and her brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here," she said, and led the first years into an empty chamber off of the Great Hall.

Once all of the new students had filed in, she turned around to look at them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall. The start-of-term feast will take place shortly, but first, you must be sorted into houses. There are four houses here at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. While you are here, your house is like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points, but any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of each year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"In a few minutes, I will come and get you for the Sorting Ceremony. Wait here, and please do so quietly."

**A/N: Hi, all. This is a rewrite of the story A Marauder's Life For Me that I originally had posted here. I didn't really like the way the story was going, so I decided to start over. I will try to update this story frequently, but it might not be as often as you guys would like because I also decided to rewrite Harry Potter and the Lost Prophecy, so I'm in the middle of that too. Thanks to all the readers who reviewed my old story - I love you so much! I'd love you even more if you reviewed my new one! Feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or concerns - my email is on my fanfiction page. Love you all!**

**Astronomylover**


	2. Chapter 2

**A Marauder's Life For Me**

Chapter 2

As Professor McGonagall left, people immediately began trying to make themselves look presentable. Peter Pettigrew, who now looked more nervous than ever, was trying to get the creases out of his robe (and there were quite a few of them!). James tried to make his hair lie flat, but only succeeded in making it stick up worse than before. He then looked over at Sirius, who grinned and gave him the thumbs up. Remus seemed to be a little nervous, but not half as much as Peter. The doors to the Great Hall opened, and out walked Professor McGonagall.

"Follow me," she said, and led them into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was magnificent. The ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside; it was dark and full of nighttime stars. Hundreds of candles floated above the house tables, lighting the hall. Ahead of them was the High Table, where the professors and other staff sat. Hagrid was sitting to the left of Professor Sprout, and he winked at James.

Professor McGonagall led the first years up towards the High Table, but stopped them a few feet away from a four-legged stool. On top of the stool sat an old, patched, and fraying hat. For a moment, everyone just stared at it. Then, the brim ripped open like a mouth and the hat began to sing. After the hat had finished its song, everyone applauded, with the exception of some of the nervous first years. Professor McGonagall then unrolled a very long piece of parchment and began reading off names.

"Black, Andromeda!"

Andromeda walked up to the stool and gave Sirius a smile before putting the hat on her head. It took about half a minute before the hat decided to put her in _"RAVENCLAW!"_

"Black, Bellatrix!"

Bellatrix sauntered up to the stool looking like she owned the place. She sat down, and as soon as the hat touched her head, it shouted, _"SLYTHERIN!"_

"Black, Sirius!"

Sirius glanced at James, who grinned back, before walking up towards the stool. Just before the hat slipped down over his eyes, he noticed that everyone was staring at him. To stop everyone from looking, he turned around, making everyone laugh.

_"You're a very clever one, and also very loyal too, now where to put you?"_ the Sorting hat questioned in Sirius's ear.

"Not Slytherin, _anywhere_ but Slytherin," Sirius whispered.

_"Are you sure about that? Alright, better be GRYFFINDOR!"_

The Gryffindor table erupted with cheers as Sirius turned to smirk at Bellatrix and Narcissa, who were both fuming. He then got up off the stool and walked over to the Gryffindor table, grinning from ear to ear.

"Daily, Charlotte!"

Charlotte walked up to the stool, visibly nervous. Her hands trembled slightly as she placed the Sorting hat on her head.

_"HUFFLEPUFF!"_ the hat shouted as the table on the far left erupted with cheers for their first new member.

"Diarma, Natalie!"

Natalie looked nervous, but her face was determined as she put the Sorting hat on her head. It was obvious that she knew where she wanted to be placed.

_"HUFFLEPUFF!"_ the hat shouted, and the table on the far left erupted with cheers once more.

"Evans, Lily!"

A girl with fiery red hair and bright emerald eyes began to walk towards the stool that bore the Sorting hat. James took one look at her and thought, _'Wow. She's really pretty.'_ Sirius, following James's gaze, saw what he was staring at and began laughing. James's eyes followed Lily up to the stool, and just before the Sorting hat fell over her eyes, she locked eyes with James Potter.

_"Hmm, very brave, this one. Not a bad mind, either. I think I'll put you in GRYFFINDOR!"_ the hat shouted again.

Once again, the table on the left erupted with cheers for Lily, Sirius cheering one of the loudest of them all.

"Hunt, Katrina!"

Katrina looked somewhat scared as she walked up to the stool and sat down. She placed the hat on her head, where it sat for almost a full minute before declaring her a _"GRYFFINDOR!"_

"Longbottom, Frank!"

Frank, like Charlotte before him, looked determined rather than scared as he walked up to the stool. The hat had barely touched his head when it yelled, _"RAVENCLAW!"_

The table to the right of the hat exploded with cheers for its second new member.

"Lupin, Remus!"

Remus walked up to the stool, determined not to be afraid. _'It's only a hat,'_ he thought to himself as he placed the Sorting hat on his head.

_"Oh, so much to deal with at such a young age. That takes much strength and courage. Definitely GRYFFINDOR!"_

Remus smiled with relief as he took off the hat and went to join Sirius at the Gryffindor table.

"McCormack, Meaghan!"

Meaghan walked up to the stool with her head held high, determination etched on every inch of her face. She sat down and placed the hat on her head.

_"Ooh, lots of talent here, along with loyalty and courage. There's only one possible place to put you…GRYFFINDOR!"_

Meaghan grinned as she took the hat off her head, and walked towards the Gryffindor table. She took a seat next to Sirius, who looked at her and smiled.

"Pettigrew, Peter!"

Once Peter put the hat on his head, it took a while before deciding to place him in _"GRYFFINDOR!"_

"Potter, James!"

As James walked up towards the stool, he thought, _'If the hat puts me in Gryffindor, then Sirius, Remus, and I are together. I hope it turns out that way.'_ He sat down on the stool and let the Sorting hat fall down over his eyes.

_"Ooh, another smart one. So much bravery, too. Better be GRYFFINDOR!"_

James grinned and walked over to the Gryffindor table, where both Sirius and Remus gave him a high five.

"Snape, Severus!"

A greasy, black-haired kid walked up towards the stool. Sirius and James thought it was so funny that they had to turn away to keep from laughing.

_"SLYTHERIN!"_ the hat called, and the table on the far right erupted with cheers.

"Summers, Alice!"

Alice looked somewhat nervous, but held her head high as she approached the stool bearing the Sorting hat. She put the hat on her head and awaited its decision.

_"RAVENCLAW!"_

The table on the right side of the stool erupted with cheers as Alice got up and took a seat next to Frank Longbottom.

"Turner, Daria!"

Daria walked up to the stool, blushing somewhat, because she noticed that she was the last student to be Sorted. The hat fell down upon her head and made the last call of the year – _"GRYFFINDOR!"_

After Daria got up off the stool and took a seat next to James, Professor McGonagall left the hall, carrying the Sorting hat and the stool. Then, Professor Dumbledore stood up, which was a sign for silence.

"Eat up," Dumbledore said simply, and the plates on the house tables magically filled with food.

After everyone had finished eating, Dumbledore got up again and waited for silence to fall. Once it did, he began making announcements.

"Now that our tummies are full, it is time for the start-of-term announcements. First off, Bite-Back Bubble Gum has been added to the list of forbidden objects in this castle. The complete list may be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anyone wishes to do so. Second, the Forbidden Forest is off-limits to all students. Third, tryouts for the house Quiddtich teams, which apply to second years and above, will be held on September 15th. Thank you all for your attention. Prefects, please lead your houses to the dormitories. Good night to all."

Drew Cohen and Brianna Wagner, the two Gryffindor house prefects, led the first years out of the Great Hall and up seven floors, stopping them in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress.

"Password?" the fat lady asked.

"Pixie dust," Drew replied, and the fat lady's portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall that led to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Drew and Brianna led the students into the common room and turned around to face them.

"This is the Gryffindor common room," Brianna said. "You'll spend most of your free time here."

"Girls' dormitories are up the stairs on the right, boys' dormitories to the left. 'Night everyone," Drew said as he climbed the staircase.

James, Sirius, and Remus made their way up the boys' staircase. The door on the first landing was labeled 'First Years'. They went inside and found their trunks sitting at the foot of the four-poster beds in the room. Each began to unpack and put their things in the bureaus next to the beds. As they were doing so, a knock sounded on the door, and Peter Pettigrew entered.

"Hi, guys!" Peter said, looking much more relaxed now that the Sorting was over.

"Hello, Peter," Remus said with a smile.

"Can I hang out with you?" he asked, practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"Well, after we unpacked, we were going to go to bed," Sirius said, grinning at James.

"We can hang out tomorrow, then! See you in the morning!" Peter said, and without even getting undressed, he jumped into bed.

"What an idiot," Sirius whispered to James.

**A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks to all the people who read my stories. It would really make my day to hear back from you. I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll try to get another one up really soon (I'm off for Spring Break for the next week!). Also, it's my 16th Birthday on Easter (Sunday!), so anyone who leaves a review with a birthday wish will get an email thanking you from me. Please review, theymake my day! Love you all!**

**Astronomylover**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Marauder's Life For Me**

Chapter 3

James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and the rest of the new Gryffindors were led down to the Great Hall by Drew and Brianna the next morning. They also handed out the new course schedules during breakfast.

"Transfiguration first," James pointed out as he grabbed a few waffles and put them on his plate. "Ooh, double potions with the Slytherins in the afternoon."

"Know of any good hexes?" Sirius asked, grinning; Remus stared at the two of them, wide-eyed.

"Plenty," James replied, plainly ignoring the scowl Remus was now giving them.

"It's only the first day!" Remus said in disbelief. "Are you two trying to lose points for Gryffindor _already_?"

"No," Sirius said pointedly. "We're just trying to have some fun."

Just then, the mail arrived. Owls of all different shapes, sizes, and colors came swooping down over the house tables, looking for their owners. To James's surprise, Merlin was one of them; Remus had to move the pitcher of pumpkin juice to stop him from landing in it.

"Hoo!" Merlin said, his mouth still full of letter.

"Let me have that," James said playfully, pulling the letter out of Merlin's beak.

James ripped open the letter and immediately recognized the untidy scrawl; he had seen the handwriting on many letters to his mother and father. The letter was from Hagrid.

James,

Care for a cup of tea with me 'round five? Send Merlin back with your answer.

Hagrid

P.S. Feel free to bring your new friends, too.

James borrowed Sirius's quill, wrote, 'Yes, please. See you later' on the letter, patted Merlin, and then sent him off again.

"Sirius?"

"Mmm?" he said, still immersed in the _Daily Prophet_.

"Do you fancy a cup of tea with Hagrid around five?" James asked.

"Sure," Sirius replied. "Remus, want to come with us?"

"I don't see why not," Remus said. "It might be fun. Peter?"

"I'm there!" Peter said, his eyes shining with excitement again.

The four of them found their way to Transfiguration without a problem. They walked into the classroom and took four seats in the back.

"Where's the Professor?" Peter asked.

"I don't know, but I reckon it's someplace important," Remus said, sitting down.

"Bloody brilliant!" Sirius yelled, for the tabby cat that had been sitting on the desk had just turned into Professor McGonagall.

"Thank you, Mr. Black. Now if Mr. Potter will kindly sit down – " James grinned sheepishly and took his seat, "we will begin."

Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and notes about transformations appeared on the blackboard.

"Please copy down these notes," she said to the class. "When you are done, we will begin turning matches into needles."

The only sound that could be heard for the next few minutes was the scratching of quills on parchment. After about five minutes, all was quiet once more.

"Miss Turner," Professor McGonagall said to Daria, "would you please hand out the matches? Thank you."

After another ten minutes with mutters of the incantation and some quiet chatter, there was a call of excitement from both Sirius and James.

"Hey, Professor!"

Both of their matches had become needles; they were silver and pointy. Professor McGonagall examined the needles, then turned and gave Sirius and James a rare smile. A few minutes later, there was another cry of excitement. This time, however, it was a girl's voice.

"Professor, come here! I think I've done it!"

It was Lily who had yelled. She was busy being congratulated by Meaghan, Daria, and Kat when Professor McGonagall walked over. In Lily's right hand was a small silver needle.

"It looks like you've got some competition, mate!" Sirius said, grinning at James.

It was a good thing that Remus had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Gryffindors' first Potions lesson was horrible – for him and Lily, at least. Sirius and James, however, seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Hey, Snivellus!" Sirius called to Snape.

Snape, who had been walking a fair distance in front of Sirius on the way to Potions, did not realize that Sirius was referring to him. Finally, the four friends reached the dungeons where Potions lessons were held. Professor Halley, the Potions Master, was seated behind his desk when the Gryffindors arrived.

"Settle down, settle down," Professor Halley said. "Today, we will be making a Confusion Concoction. Here – " he tapped his wand on the board behind him and instructions appeared there, "are the directions. You have one hour and ten minutes. Begin."

"Hey, Snivellus," Sirius said.

Snape, who was sharing the preparation table with Sirius, looked up from his ingredients to stare at him.

"The name's Severus," Snape said brusquely.

_'He reminds me of Bellatrix,'_ Sirius thought to himself. _'I wonder if he knows her…'_ His thoughts were cut short, however, by James prodding him on the shoulder.

"Wands out, hexes at the ready, do you reckon?" James asked quietly while grinning broadly.

Sirius nodded and pulled out his wand, hiding it behind his back so that it was not visible to Snape.

"Snivellus," Sirius said again.

As Snape turned, Sirius and James each hit him with a different hex. Snape had been standing when he turned around, but James's Jelly Legs Jinx made him lose his balance. In order to prevent himself from falling over, Snape grabbed the nearest thing to him – his flask of pomegranate juice. The juice spilled all over the floor, as well as all over him.

Sirius had hit Snape with a Stinging Hex, which caused him to yell in pain, a yell that caught Professor Halley's attention.

"Boys! What warranted such an attack? Twenty points from Gryffindor!" Professor Halley yelled over the commotion.

Professor Halley muttered the countercurses to Sirius and James's hexes as Snape stood up, wand out, panting heavily.

"Impedimenta!" Snape roared, pointing his wand at James.

Unfortunately for James, Snape's aim was dead on. The curse hit James square in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the wall by the door, which he hit with an extremely loud THUD.

Sirius launched himself at Snape as Professor Halley stood up on his desk, making his wand emit a volley of firecrackers and bangs to regain the class's attention.

"SILENCE!" he roared.

The smoke from the firecrackers cleared to reveal Lily standing over James (it was obvious that she had been yelling at him moments before), Sirius pinning Snape to the wall; his arm across Snape's throat, and the rest of the class standing randomly about the room, looking at either Lily and James or Sirius and Snape.

"Mr. Black, remove your arm from across Mr. Snape's throat. Miss Evans, please escort both Mr. Black and Mr. Potter to the Hospital Wing and then to your Head of House. Mr. Snape, twenty points from Slytherin for your retaliation. Report to your Head of House now. All of you, go."

Snape picked up his bag and walked out of the classroom without so much as a backward glance, his robes billowing behind him. Lily went back to her cauldron, picked up her bag, and helped Sirius escort/carry James to the Hospital Wing, the dungeon door shutting behind them with a BANG.

"Why did you attack him?" Lily asked, shaking her head. "There was no reason for such a thing."

"He deserved it," Sirius piped up.

"Deserved it?" Lily asked, turning her head to look at Sirius. "What could he _possibly_ have done to make him deserve it?"

"He's a Slytherin," Sirius said as the three of them reached the Hospital Wing.

"He's a _Slytherin!_ _That's_ your reason?" Lily exploded at him as they lowered James onto a bed.

"This is a hospital ward, not a rock concert!" Madam Thomas said angrily as she strode over to the three of them. "Now, what is it that you need?"

"James got blasted against the dungeon wall by a curse," Sirius said before Lily could open her mouth. "Professor Halley wanted him checked out."

"Fine," Madam Thomas said, glancing at James, who was laying flat on his back with his eyes closed. "I'll be there in a minute."

Madam Thomas walked back over to the patient she had been helping when the three of them came in as Lily rounded on James.

"And Potter, what is _your_ explanation for attacking Snape?"

"I thought it would be funny," James mumbled, soft enough that Lily had to lean down towards him to hear.

"You thought it would be _funny_? Attacking another student is _funny?_" Lily said, earning herself a glare from Madam Thomas. "What planet were you brought up on? Because here on Earth, attacking another student isn't funny, it's _wrong_."

A few minutes later, Madam Thomas let James out of the Hospital Wing a few minutes later after bandaging his chest – the knock against the wall had broken a few of James's ribs. Lily then led him and Sirius to Professor McGonagall's office.

Professor McGonagall ranted to Sirius and James about proper behavior before giving both of them a detention with Professor Halley. Lily stood outside the door listening to the speech, smiling to herself. When Professor McGonagall finished, she sent Sirius, James, and Lily back to the common room. It was half past five when they entered through the portrait hole.

"James, Sirius, what took you so long?" Remus asked, putting the book he was reading down on a side table and getting up from an armchair to greet them.

"I had to take them to the Hospital Wing and then to McGonagall," Lily put in. "Remus, do you have notes from Potions that I can borrow?"

"Sure, Lily," Remus said. "I'll get them for you later."

"Thanks," Lily replied, and headed up the girls' dormitory staircase.

"Now, James, are you okay?" Remus asked.

"A few broken ribs, but other than that, I'm fine," James replied.

Peter, who was standing behind Remus, looked from James and Sirius, to his watch, and then back to the other three.

"Weren't we supposed to be at Hagrid's a half hour ago?" he asked.

Remus looked at his wristwatch, which he had charmed to work around magic, and then to the rest of the group.

"He's right, it's almost quarter to six," Remus said. "We better get going."

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter left Gryffindor Tower through the portrait hole and headed down across the grounds to Hagrid's hut. James, who had gotten to the door first, knocked.

"Hagrid, it's James. Sorry we're late, we were delayed by McGonagall. May we come in?" James asked.

"Sure," Hagrid replied. "Give me a sec."

They all heard several booming barks, in response to which Peter shrank back in fear. Just then, the door opened.

"Come on in, I just put the kettle on the fire," Hagrid said, gesturing to it.

James entered first; Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed. Peter, however, was hesitant to come in after hearing the barks from what sounded like a really big dog.

"So these are yer new friends, eh James?"

"Yep. Hagrid, this is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew," James said, pointing to each one in turn.

"Another Black, eh? I've already met Andromeda, an' Narcissa's been here a couple o' times. She enjoys the company," Hagrid said as he poured them all tea.

"Really? How come she never told me this?" Sirius asked furiously.

"Calm down, Sirius. Don't take it out on us that Narcissa doesn't tell you anything," James said, trying hard to keep from laughing.

"No, it's not that. It's that I'm actually very surprised Narcissa's been down here, her being the way she is," Sirius said.

A big black dog ambled out from under Hagrid's bed. It walked over to James, licked his ears, then started off towards Peter. Instinctively, Peter stood and began to back up.

"Oh, tha's jus' Fang," Hagrid said.

"Fang?" Peter said, his voice quavering.

"Coward, really. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Oh, okay," Peter said, but he still didn't sound convinced.

Fang kept moving towards Peter, and Peter kept backing up until he hit the wall and sank into a chair by the door. Fang sat down next to him and began drooling all over his robes. Peter tried to push Fang off, but to no avail. James, Sirius, and Remus laughed when they saw Fang drooling all over Peter.

"So, how was yer firs' day?" Hagrid asked James.

"Would you care to explain?" James asked, turning to Sirius and grinning.

"It would be my pleasure," Sirius replied, grinning back at James.

Lily walked up the girls' dormitory steps, thinking of doing her Transfiguration homework on her bed in the dorm, where it was quiet. Except that when she got there, someone was already sitting on her bed. It was a brunette with blue eyes, one of the girls who had congratulated her earlier for turning her match into a needle. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, and she was talking animatedly to two other girls sitting on the bed across from Lily's. When Lily walked in, she looked up from the conversation.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this your bed?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, but you can stay there if you want," Lily replied with a smile. "Which bed is yours?"

"The one next to the bed Kat and Meaghan are sitting on. I'm Daria Turner, by the way," she said.

"Lily Evans. So which one of you is which?"

"I'm Meaghan McCormack," the girl with wavy blonde hair that fell halfway down her back said, "and this is Katrina Hunt."

Katrina was a brunette like Daria with deep brown eyes. She turned to Meaghan as she heard her name.

"Meg, you know I like Kat better," Katrina said.

"Sorry, but for sake of introductions, you're Katrina," Meaghan replied.

"Are we the only new Gryffindor first year girls?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Daria said.

"Ooh, want to go make friends with the new guys?" Meg asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Sure," Lily replied. "I don't see why not."

Lily, Daria, Kat, and Meg walked down their staircase and up the guys' one. They reached the first year landing, and Kat knocked on the door. However, there was no answer.

"What d'you reckon?" Daria asked.

"I don't know where they could be; they're not in the common room," Kat said.

"How about the library?" Lily suggested.

"James Potter in the _library_? Ha! I've known him long enough to know that he doesn't _need_ the library," Meg said.

The other three girls turned to stare at Meg as she said this.

"How d'you know James Potter?" Kat asked.

"We're neighbors," Meg replied. "He lives in the house next to mine."

"Ooh, fun!" Daria exclaimed.

"Okay, back to the subject at hand. How about Hagrid's?" Lily asked.

"Let's go see," Meg said, and the four new friends set off for Hagrid's cabin.

"Let's just say Transfiguration wasn't bad, and Potions was entertaining," Sirius said with a gleam in his eyes and a slight smile on his face.

"Maybe for you two it was!" Remus interjected angrily.

"Why? Wha'd they do?" Hagrid asked, his beard twitching.

"They lost twenty points from Gryffindor on the first day of lessons, _and_ James ended up with a few broken ribs, that's what they did!"

"Broken ribs?" Hagrid asked, looking concerned. "How'd tha' happen?"

Sirius put a hand to the left of his mouth, leaned over to Hagrid and whispered, "Don't ask," while pointing at Remus.

"Anyway, Remus, we'll earn those points back at Quidditch. Gryffindor's pretty good, from what I've heard," James said. "Although, they would be better with me on the team…"

"James, you know perfectly well that first years aren't allowed on the house teams," Remus said pointedly.

"We all know _that_," Sirius said, "but I wouldn't mind being a Beater."

"Ah, dream on, you two," Hagrid said, smiling at Sirius and James.

Just then, a knock sounded on the front door. Hagrid went to answer it.

"Hello, Hagrid," Meaghan said. "Are the Gryffindor first year boys here?"

"Yeah. James brought his friends down for tea. Would you girls' like teh come in for a cup?"

"What d'you think?" Daria asked, looking at the three other girls. "I'd like some tea."

"Me too," Meaghan said.

"Tea would be nice," Lily said, and James, upon hearing Lily's voice, began ruffling his hair.

The four girls came in, and Hagrid pulled up the three other chairs that had been sitting in the back of the cabin. Sirius then noticed that they were short one chair. He offered the chair that was on James's left to Lily, who said 'thank you' and sat down.

Sirius tapped Meaghan on the shoulder and offered her his chair.

"Thanks," Meaghan replied, smiling at him as she took the chair and sat down.

Sirius found a stool under the counter at the back of the hut, grabbed it, and sat between Meaghan and Lily. He grinned at James, who grinning back while thinking about how best to impress Lily. However, Meaghan's voice interrupted James's musings.

"I think it's time we get to know one another better. I'll start. My – "

"Ooh, goody! Circle time!" Sirius interrupted.

"Shut up, Sirius," James said.

"Thanks, James," Meaghan said, and James nodded at her in reply. "I'm Meaghan McCormack, but I usually go by Meg."

"I'm – " Daria started, but was interrupted by Sirius (again).

"Hang on. You're Meaghan McCormack," Sirius said.

"Yeah," Meg said, looking at him questioningly.

"Daughter of Catriona McCormack, who plays Chaser for Pride of Portree?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Meg said, blushing slightly.

"Wow," Daria said softly.

"Your mom is my _idol_," Sirius said. "I'm going to have to worship you now."

The entire group laughed at this statement.

"Please don't do that," Meg said, blushing bright crimson now.

"Okay, moving on. I'm Daria Turner."

"Katrina Hunt, but I usually go by Kat," she said, blushing slightly as Remus smiled at her.

"Sirius Black, Prankmaster Extraordinaire," Sirius said, pretending to take off an imaginary hat.

"Excuse me, Sirius, but I believe that is _my_ title," James said.

"Too late," Sirius replied. "I said it first."

"Doesn't matter," James put in.

"Yes, it – "

"Okay, enough, both of you," Remus said, looking back and forth between Sirius and James. "I'm Remus Lupin, although I do tend to play peacekeeper as well."

Once again, they all laughed.

"James Potter," James said, winking and flashing a dazzling smile at Lily, who blushed.

"Lily Evans," Lily said quietly, looking at Sirius and purposely not at James.

"Peter Pettigrew," came Peter's voice from over by the door.

They had all jumped when Peter spoke; most of them had forgotten he was there. Fang, however, had not. While the group of friends talked, Remus sat thinking. The full moon was in two days. He was debating whether or not to tell his new friends the truth about his condition. In the end, he decided against it, at least for the time being.

"Remus?" James asked.

Remus, who had been deep in thought, jumped and looked around quizzically.

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

"You didn't say goodbye to the girls when they left," Sirius said. "What's wrong with you, don't you know how to treat a lady?"

"I do, it's just … I was thinking about something else," Remus replied, and got up from his chair, joining the others as they returned to Gryffindor Tower.

**A/N - I am so sorry that it's taken me so long to update this. I'm just about done the next chapter; I'll have my next update done by next Monday, I promise. Thanks so much to all my reviewers - you ROCK! Until next time!**

**astronomylover**


	4. Chapter 4

**A Marauder's Life For Me**

Chapter 4

Two days later, Remus received an owl saying that he should meet Professor McGonagall and Madam Thomas in the Entrance Hall at 6:00 that night. His first full moon at Hogwarts had arrived. That entire day, Remus was very quiet, something that Sirius and James noticed immediately; Peter was a little slow on the uptake.

"Remus, are you okay?" James asked, looking concerned.

"No, not really," Remus replied. "My Mum's sick, and I need to go visit her over the weekend. I'll be back by Monday, though."

"Oh. We'll miss you, Remus," Peter said with a smile.

"Not really, Remus spoils all of our pranks," Sirius said, chortling.

"Sirius, James, come up to the dormitory with me. I have gifts for you."

Remus ran up to the dormitory, taking the stairs two at a time. When Sirius and James got there, he was rummaging through his trunk for something. They tried to peer over his shoulder to see what he was looking for, but he straightened up with two brown paper parcels in his hands. He gave one to each Sirius and James.

"Go on, open it!" Remus urged.

Both opened their packages, and inside was what looked like an ordinary hand mirror.

"A mirror? Remus, are you taking the mickey?" Sirius asked.

"No, I'm not taking the mickey. It's not an ordinary mirror, they're charmed. You just say the name of the person you want to talk to into the mirror, and the other person's face will appear in yours. They're like Walkie-Talkies!" he exclaimed.

Both Sirius and James seemed puzzled by this last statement. After about half a minute, James spoke up.

"Remus, what are Walkie-Talkies?"

It was a quarter to six when Remus began the walk down to the Entrance Hall. For him, the walk seemed to take an eternity. He wasn't really looking where he was going; his feet just led him there. He was surprised to find Professor McGonagall and Madam Thomas already waiting for him when he arrived at five minutes to six.

"Good evening, Mr. Lupin," Professor McGonagall said. "I'm glad you found your way down all right."

Seeing as Remus made no response, Professor McGonagall spoke again.

"Remus, this is Madam Thomas, the Hogwarts Nurse. She will take care of you once the full moon ends. Please follow me."

She and Madam Thomas led Remus out onto the grounds. They stopped about twenty feet away from a tree with branches thick as five baseball bats tied together. Madam Thomas took a long stick that was lying on the ground in the brush near the tree and pressed a knot on the tree's base.

"This tree is a Whomping Willow," Professor McGonagall said. "It will flail its branches at anyone who gets close enough for it to feel threatened. That way, nobody can come across you while you are … dangerous."

Remus merely nodded.

"I'll come back for you in the morning, hun," Madam Thomas said. "Good luck, dear."

Remus took one last look at the castle, and then set off down the tunnel.

On Saturday, a notice had been posted on the common room bulletin board. Sirius was the first of the boys to notice it.

"Oy, James!" Sirius called across the common room.

"What is it?" James asked, his gaze leaving Lily and fixing on Sirius.

"Flying lessons! Next Wednesday! And guess who we're learning with?" Sirius asked, walking over to the table at which James was seated.

"The Slytherins?" James asked, a grin spreading across his face.

"Yep. So all we need to do is learn some more hexes between now and then," Sirius said, checking to make sure that Lily wasn't listening to their conversation.

"I guess we head to the library?" James asked Sirius.

"Yeah, I guess. But whatever happens, don't let Pince know _why_ we want to learn this stuff," Sirius muttered as the two of them walked past Lily, who was seated in a comfy armchair, and left through the portrait hole.

"Hey, wait for me!" Peter called as he caught up with them.

The three of them were walking in the direction of the library when Drew and Brianna came out of a room the boys had never seen before.

"Hey, Drew," Peter said, walking over to the two of them. "What room is that?"

"It's called the Room of Requirement. You walk past the wall three times, thinking about what you want to appear in the room. A door will appear in the wall, and whatever you wished for will be inside," Drew replied with a smile at Brianna. "Just don't tell anyone you saw us here. We were supposed to be on Prefect duty."

"Okay, we promise," Sirius said, giving a mock salute to Drew. "We won't tell a soul."

"Thanks, guys," Drew said, winked at them, and he and Brianna left down the corridor.

The boys watched Drew and Brianna continue down the corridor until they were out of sight. Sirius turned to James and Peter with a wide grin on his face.

"Gentlemen, I think we've just found the perfect place to learn and practice jinxes."

Madam Thomas came to get Remus at eight o'clock on Saturday morning. She walked down the tunnel and up the stairs into the bedroom of the Shrieking Shack. It was here she found Remus lying on the bed.

"Oh my, you poor thing!" she exclaimed.

Remus was very pale, and his body was covered in gashes. His clothes were ripped in many different places, and you could see the cuts through the rips in the fabric. His breathing was shallow as Madam Thomas led him up to the Hospital Wing. She had to support him all of the way there, and almost carry him up the marble staircase because he was so weak. (This was not an easy task for Madam Thomas; she was only twenty five, five foot six inches, and not very strong.)

When they reached the Hospital Wing, she laid him down on one of the beds and drew the curtains. She was able to mend his bruises and cuts in a few moments, but Remus needed to stay in the Hospital Wing for all of Saturday and most of Sunday until he was strong enough to walk back to Gryffindor Tower on his own.

He returned to Gryffindor Tower Sunday night very tired, but glad to be back. The first thing he noticed was that Sirius, James, and Peter were nowhere to be found. He climbed the boys' dormitory stairs and found a note from them on his pillow in the dormitory.

Remus,

We're down in the Room of Requirement. Ask Drew or Brianna where to go; they'll show you where it is. Glad you're back.

James Sirius Peter

"The Room of Requirement? Well, I'll go ask," Remus said. "Wherever it is, I hope its close by. I'm exhausted."

With that, he walked back down the steps to the common room. He found Drew and Brianna sitting on one of the couches together, laughing and chatting with one another.

"Drew?"

"Remus, you're back! How's your mum?" Brianna asked.

"She's much better, thanks," Remus replied with a slight smile. "I have a question. James, Sirius, and Peter left me a not saying that you two know where the Room of Requirement is."

Brianna blushed a nice shade of crimson, and when Drew noticed, he shoved her playfully.

"It's – well – follow me, I'll show you where it is," Drew said.

Drew led Remus to the Room of Requirement, explaining to him how the room worked as they walked. They arrived in front of a bare stretch of wall, and Drew paced back and forth in front of it. After his third pass, a door appeared in the wall.

"Well, this is it. I need to get back to Bri – I mean, prefect duty," Drew said, turning slightly pink. "See you, Remus. Oh, and glad you're back."

As Drew left down the corridor to return to the common room ('_and Brianna,'_ Remus thought), Remus opened the door in the wall quietly.

"What d'you reckon?" Sirius said to James.

James looked at Sirius for a moment, pondering his answer.

"Well, I guess that could work, but I think the – " James cut off his thought as his gaze shifted from Sirius and the book in his own lap to Remus, who was leaning against the doorframe. "Hey, nice to see you again, Remus."

Sirius turned his head to look at Remus in time to see Peter run over to Remus and hug him, almost knocking him down in the process. Both Sirius and James cracked up laughing at this sudden show of emotion.

"D'you fancy helping us look up some jinxes so we can hex Snivellus into next week?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Sure," Remus replied.

"Remus, are you sure you're feeling okay?" James asked, a look of disbelief on his face.

"I'm kinda tired, but other than that, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You're helping us look up hexes for bad reasons," Sirius said.

"So? Ever since my trip home to my mum's, I realized that I miss the mayhem you two cause. If I can still do well in class, why not have a little fun on the side?" Remus asked.

James turned to Sirius, who was staring at Remus, his mouth hanging open. When he noticed James looking in his direction, he quickly shut it.

"I think we've had too much of an affect on him," James said.

"No, you haven't," Remus said. "I just think we Marauders ought to have some more fun."

"What did you call us?" Peter asked with a quizzical look.

"Marauders. It's a fancy name for troublemakers," Remus replied, a smile spreading slowly across his face.

"I like the way he thinks," Sirius said, turning to grin at James.

"Me too," James said. I just can't wait until Wednesday!"

"Why?" Remus asked. "What's Wednesday?"

"Flying lessons with the Slytherins," Sirius replied, grinning again.

Wednesday came all too soon for Peter. He woke up that morning shaking from head to toe.

"What's wrong, Peter?" Remus asked, looking concerned. "You seem like something's bothering you."

"It's nothing," Peter replied, a scared look on his face.

"That's a lie," Remus said, smiling at him. "Come on, Pete, you can tell me."

"Okay, it's just that I fancy keeping both my feet on the ground, that's all," Peter said.

"Pete, flying is one of the easiest things you can do," James said as he untangled himself from his bed sheets. "Come on, we'll go down early. Sirius and I'll show you."

"You guys know you don't have your own brooms, how do you expect to show Peter how to fly?" Remus asked curiously.

After looking at Sirius and James's faces, however, Remus's look of curiosity turned to one of anxiousness.

"You aren't going to _steal_ brooms, are you?" Remus asked hesitantly, as if he really didn't want to know the answer.

"Remus, Remus, Remus. I thought you knew us by now," Sirius said, trying hard to keep himself from grinning. "We're going to _borrow_ the brooms we use for lessons to let Peter practice."

"We could all get expelled!" Peter squeaked. "I'm not worth that!"

"Pete, think who you're talking about," James said seriously. "How often do we get caught?"

"Most of the time," Remus put in.

"Shut up, Remus," Sirius said. "So, how about it, Pete?"

"Well, I guess it would be okay," Peter answered.

"Great. We'll have breakfast and then go down to the field," James said.

"I'll go with you to breakfast, but I'm staying there until it's time for lessons," Remus said. "I may like to break rules, but I have my limits."

"Okay, let's head down to the Great Hall," Sirius said.

After a breakfast of toast and eggs, Sirius, James, and Peter left for the Quidditch Pitch. As Remus watched them leave the Great Hall, he thought, _'I sure hope they don't get caught. They might be good, but they're biting off more than they can chew this time.'_

One hour later, Remus walked out onto the pitch where the Gryffindors and the Slytherins would be learning to find Sirius and James being reprimanded by Madam Hooch, the Quidditch Professor. Peter was standing on the side; he was obviously not in trouble. When Peter saw Remus, he dashed over to him and started to explain what had happened.

"Oh, Remus, you were right! They were trying to charm the broom shed open when Madam Hooch got there. They've landed themselves detention again! Oh, this is all my fault!" Peter wailed, wringing his hands.

"Pete, none of this is your fault. It was their idea to get brooms out of the broom shed. Anyway, I guess those mirrors I gave them will come in handy sometime in the near future," Remus said, smiling at Peter.

As soon as Madam Hooch finished telling off Sirius and James, Gryffindors and Slytherins began arriving for lessons. James nearly dropped the broom he was balancing on its end for Peter's enjoyment when Lily showed up with Daria, Kat, and Meg. In a little while, everyone had shown up and lessons had begun.

"Listen up! Everyone stand beside a broom with your right hand out in front," Madam Hooch said to the students.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had chosen brooms next to one another; the same with Lily, Meg, Daria, and Kat. Snape and Bellatrix had each chosen brooms not far away from Lily.

"Okay, everyone, now that you've got your right hand out over the broom, say 'UP!'"

There was a chorus of 'UP!', and nearly everyone's broom (with the exception of Peter's) jumped into their right hands. Next, Madam Hooch showed them how to correctly mount the broom so that they wouldn't slide off the end. James and Sirius were delighted to see that Snape had been doing it wrong for years.

"Everyone mount their broom," Madam Hooch said. "When I blow my whistle, everyone is to rise straight up twenty or thirty feet and then come right back down. Any horseplay and the person responsible will march straight to their Head of House. Understand?"

A chorus of 'yes', 'okay', and 'I understand' was heard.

"Alright," Madam Hooch said. "On my whistle. Three … two … one … "

The whistle sounded and twenty or so brooms rose into the air. Nobody seemed to be having any problems – nobody except Lily. Her broom rose higher and higher, jerking left and right on its way.

"Miss Evans!" Madam Hooch yelled.

"Help!" was Lily's response.

By now, Lily was fifty or sixty feet in the air and everyone else was safely back on the ground. Madam Hooch turned to one of the Slytherin first years, telling her to go get Professor McGonagall, just as Lily slipped off the end of her broom with a yell. James mounted his broom and shot upwards towards Lily, catching her twenty feet above the ground.

The Gryffindors cheered as James hovered with Lily in his arms ten feet above the ground. Kat, Remus, Sirius, Daria, and Meg came running over so that they were near the two of them – James had not yet come down from the air.

"Lily, are you okay?" Remus asked.

"Yeah," Lily said softly, looking up into James's face.

James flew down to the ground and helped Lily stand up. She goggled at James as if she was mesmerized by him standing so close to her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" James asked her, looking slightly concerned by her manner.

"Yeah," Lily replied, shaking her head and bringing herself back to reality. "Thanks, James."

James noticed she was blushing furiously. He grinned back.

"No problem," he replied, ruffling his hair.

"That's the last time _I_ get on a broom for a while," Lily said shakily, and they all laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Marauder's Life For Me**

Chapter 5

As the weeks passed, the weather grew steadily colder due to the approaching winter season. It was halfway through the month of December when James woke up early on a Thursday morning. Light was just beginning to stream through the dormitory windows, signifying that sunrise hadn't been too long ago. He rolled back the covers and looked at the clock sitting on his bedside table – it read 5:45am. Knowing there was no way he was going to fall back to sleep, he got out of bed, walked over to the window, and sat down on the ledge. Out of the window James could see the big beech tree, the forest on the Hogwarts border, and the lake.

_'That water must be really cold this morning,'_ James thought as he stared out onto the frost-covered grounds.

He sat there for a while, thinking about unimportant things. After a while, his thoughts turned to the pranks he and the other Marauders had pulled.

_'That prank Sirius and I pulled in Potions the first day was pretty good, and so was the exploding Quaffle we put in the Slytherin's box of Quidditch balls… but we haven't pulled a prank in ages. But what could we do?'_

James paused in thought as he looked back out the window. His gaze fell on the lake. His eyes widened and began to twinkle (as they always did when he became excited) as he looked from the lake outside to his friends, asleep in their beds. A grin spread across his face as he got up off the window ledge and went over to Sirius's bed.

"Sirius," James said quietly as he shook him. "Sirius, wake up."

Sirius turned over and mumbled something incoherent into his pillow. James rolled his eyes and shook him until he opened his eyes.

"Wassamatter?" Sirius asked blearily.

"Nothing's the matter, I just came up with our next prank," James said, his eyes still twinkling.

Sirius sat up, instantly awake.

"Okay, let's hear it," Sirius said, raising his voice in his excitement, but it was drowned out by the buzz of Remus's magical alarm clock.

Remus rolled over and hit a button on the alarm, which ceased it's buzzing instantly. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, then noticed Sirius and James.

"You two are up early," he said as he climbed out of his own bed and sat down on Sirius's. "What's up?"

"James was just about to tell me his idea for our next prank, seeing as we haven't done anything lately," Sirius said, looking from Remus to James. "Come on, James, let's hear it."

"I was thinking we could levitate someone's bed out over the lake (or someone, if that makes it easier) while the person is sleeping, and then wake them up when they're over the lake," James said, grinning. "We even have enough time to do it this morning, if you want."

"That's a great idea, James, but it's kind of cruel," Remus said.

"Who cares?" Sirius asked. "Let's go for it! But who should we prank?"

"Guys, that's still not very – " Remus tried again, but was cut off by Sirius answering his own question.

"I've got it! We should prank Evans!" Sirius exclaimed.

James's eyes lit up.

"Perfect! Let's get dressed; we've got about a half hour until the girls wake up."

"I'm staying out of this one," Remus said. "I might watch, but I'm _certainly_ not helping."

"Suit yourself," Sirius said as he and James got dressed and raced out the door.

Thirty five minutes later, Lily Evans woke up to find herself floating twenty feet about the freezing cold lake. She screamed.

"Good morning, Evans!" Sirius yelled to her.

"This is your captain James Potter speaking, are you enjoying your flight?"

Both Sirius and James cracked up laughing as Lily screamed again.

"PUT ME _DOWN_, POTTER!" Lily yelled at him, trying to avert her eyes from the surface of the lake twenty feet below. "I'M AFRAID OF HEIGHTS, AND YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"

By now, quite a few students were out on the grounds watching Sirius and James's antics.

"You want me to put you down?" James asked.

"YES!" Lily yelled.

"Okay," James said.

Remus, meanwhile, had been up in the guys' dormitory reading his Charms textbook. It was very quiet up there, the only sound present was the noise made every time he turned a page. However, at that moment, a girl's scream shattered the silence. Remus ran to the window and looked out. He could see people standing around the lake, and one solitary figure floating over it. Remus's eyes widened in horror.

Two seconds later, Remus was dashing down the marble staircase, his cloak in hand. He burst out the Entrance Hall doors and was about thirty feet from the lake when he heard James say 'okay' and Lily scream as she fell from midair and hit the smooth surface of the lake.

Lily went underwater and came up about five seconds later, shivering profusely and trying to keep from going under once more. Remus threw his cloak to the side as reached the shore and then dove in after Lily. When he reached where she was barely treading water, he let her lean on him as he swam back to shore. When they got there, Remus picked up his cloak from the ground and wrapped it around both Lily and himself.

James and Sirius, who both had been howling with laughter while Lily was suspended over the lake, were now frowning.

"Remus, why'd you go after her?" James asked as Remus and Lily slowly walked by. "You said you weren't going to get involved!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't think you two were actually going to do something this mean and stupid," Remus replied bitterly.

Remus turned back around and began walking Lily toward the castle when she placed her hand on his shoulder, clearly telling him 'I'll be right back'. She handed him her side of the cloak and strode purposefully toward Sirius and James, shivering all the while. It was clear to the other students that Sirius and James were having an awful lot of trouble holding in their laughter.

"You thought that was funny, didn't you?" Lily asked them.

"Yeah, we thought so," Sirius replied.

Lily turned away from them and began walking back towards Remus. James stayed where he was for a minute before catching up to Lily and putting his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Lily – " James began.

SMACK!

The sound echoed throughout the grounds as James staggered back a few paces from the force of Lily's blow, clutching his cheek. Sirius ran up to Lily but stopped five feet from her when he realized she was pointing her wand in his face.

"Don't make me do it, Black, because I will," Lily said softly with an underlying note of anger in her voice. "You two are the biggest wankers I have ever had the misfortune to meet! What have I ever done to you? Abso – bloody – lutely NOTHING! If either one of you ever hoped to become friends with me, forget about it, because this means _war_."

She stared at the two of them for a few more seconds before turning around and stalked back to Remus, who instantly wrapped her in the cloak again. The two of them then headed up to the castle and the Hospital Wing. The crowd of students began to disperse and head back to their dormitories, chattering all the way. James, who had had a hand to his cheek the entire time, finally let it fall to his side. There, upon his right cheek, was a bright red handprint the size of Lily's hand.

"Ow," James said softly.

There was silence for a moment before Sirius spoke.

"Okay, next time, I come up with the prank."

"Shut up, Sirius."

Remus and Lily walked through the Entrance Hall doors and up the marble staircase in the direction of the Hospital Wing. Lily's lips were blue, her teeth were chattering, and she was shaking beneath Remus's cloak. Remus also had blue lips and was very cold, but for the sake of having saved Lily, he was trying not to shiver (too much). Despite the fact that both were wearing soaking wet (and very cold) clothes, being bundled up in Remus's cloak together warmed them up a bit.

They reached the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey was busy trying to fix a student who currently was growing moss from under his arms. Remus sat Lily down on one of the beds and gave her his cloak before going over to talk to Madam Pomfrey.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Remus asked, shivering now that he was no longer wrapped in the cloak with Lily.

Madam Pomfrey cured the boy with the moss under his arms with a swish of her wand, let him know that he was free to go, and turned to Remus.

"Mr. Lupin, you're all wet, and not to mention shivering! How did this happen?" she asked.

"Take care of Lily first, she was in the lake longer," Remus said as he walked back towards Lily, who had gotten under the bedcovers with Remus's cloak still wrapped around her.

"The lake?" Madam Pomfrey asked, shocked. "What were you and Miss Evans doing in the lake?"

Remus began to explain to the nurse what had happened as she looked over Lily and then gave her some Pepper-Up Potion to warm her up.

"James and Sirius thought it would be funny to levitate her over the lake while she was sleeping and have her wake up suspended in midair," Remus said, his anger towards his two friends returning in full measure. "Of course, it wasn't funny at all. She woke up and – "

"Y-Y-Yelled at him – J-J-James – to p-put me down," Lily stuttered because her teeth were still chattering. "S-S-So he d-did. R-Right into the l-lake."

Madam Pomfrey then gave some Pepper-Up Potion to Remus, bundled both him and Lily up in blankets, and had him sit down next to Lily on the bed.

"Sirius and James said they were going to do something like this earlier this morning," Remus continued, moving slightly closer to Lily as he spoke. "I didn't think they'd actually do it, though."

"B-Bastards," Lily muttered under her breath.

"Miss Evans!" Madam Pomfrey said.

"S-S-Sorry."

"However, that doesn't explain why _you_ are wet, Mr. Lupin," Madam Pomfrey said, looking at Remus pointedly.

"I went into the lake after Lily," Remus said simply.

"H-He saved m-me," Lily stammered, looking at Remus.

"Did he, now?" Madam Pomfrey asked, looking at Remus appreciatively. "That was very kind of you, Mr. Lupin. Now, I'll be back in ten minutes to give you some more potion, seeing as you're both still very cold."

Madam Pomfrey walked away and disappeared into her office, shutting the door behind her. Remus and Lily sat in silence, both staring in different directions before Lily turned to look at him.

"R-Remus?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Remus said, turning his head to look in her direction.

"T-Thanks," Lily said, moving so close to him that she was practically leaning on his chest. "I owe y-you one."

Remus smiled and, taking his arm out of the blanket, wrapped it around her, pulling her to him.

"It was nothing," he replied. "I didn't really even think about what I was doing, it just sort of happened. I have a question, though."

"Yeah?" she said, looking up at him.

"You don't think I'm a prat because I hang around with Sirius, James, and Peter, do you?"

"Nah," Lily replied, smiling. "I might have before, but you proved otherwise."

"Good."

Twenty five minutes passed before Madam Pomfrey popped out of her office again, potions in hand. However, she stopped in her tracks when she saw Remus and Lily. Remus was lying on his back, his head against the pillow, with Lily lying directly next to him, her head on his chest. It was on that morning that Lily became good friends with Remus Lupin and learned to hate James Potter and Sirius Black.

Four years later, Lily had still kept her word. The date was August 15th, and she was sitting on the bed in her room, reading a letter from none other than James Potter.

Evans,

How's your summer going? Do you miss me? I know I miss you. Do you want to meet Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I in Diagon Alley on the 28th? We can get our books and stuff and eat lunch, too. So, how about it?

Looking forward to your reply,

James Potter

P.S. Will you go out with me?

P.P.S. Please don't say no.

Lily laughed before getting up off her bed, grabbing parchment and a quill, and sitting back down again. Five minutes later, she read over her finished letter.

Potter,

My summer has been wonderful so far, if you ignore the fact that my sister can't stand to be in the same room with me. No, I don't miss you, but if Petunia keeps this up, I just might. Wait, did I _really_ just say that? I must be losing my mind! Anyway, my Mum was planning to take me to Diagon Alley on the 29th, but I'll see what I can do (if you promise to behave). I'll try and bring Kat, Daria, and Meg too.

Tell Remus I said hello,

Lily Evans

P.S. No, I will not go out with you.

P.P.S. That's right, Potter, I said no.

After deciding that her letter was okay, Lily went over to her owl's cage, tied the parchment to Snowflake's leg with one of her golden hair ribbons, and sent Snowflake on her journey to find James Potter.

Lily stared out the window for a while before her cat, Scooter, jumped up on the bed, curled up next to her, and fell asleep. Everything was quiet, until –

"Hey, Evans!"

Lily jumped and whirled around to face her desk, from where she thought the voice (which ironically sounded exactly like James Potter's) was coming.

"Earth to Evans! Anyone home?"

"P-Potter?" Lily stuttered, still mystified by the source of the noise.

"Yep," James replied proudly.

"How is it that I can hear you?" Lily asked. "You're not in my room, are you?"

"He wishes, Lilykins, he wishes," came the voice of Sirius Black.

"Black?" Lily asked.

"Prankster extraordinaire, at your service," Sirius replied.

"Okay, you two," Lily said, "I'm getting annoyed here, as well as kind of spooked. Either tell me where your voices are coming from and how I can hear you or I'll – "

"Or you'll what, Lilykins?" Sirius asked.

"Or I'll – "

"Okay, that's enough!" Remus Lupin's voice said. "No more bickering!"

"Finally, a voice of reason!" Lily exclaimed. "Remus, can you tell me how in Merlin's name I can hear you guys?"

"It's James's letter. It has a voice teleportation charm on it so that it works like a telephone," Remus explained.

"Okay, now I have another question. Why are you bothering me?" Lily asked. "I just sent a reply back with Snowflake. She's a fast owl; couldn't you have waited an hour or two to get my answer?"

"No, he couldn't," Sirius said, chortling. "You should have heard him debating with himself whether or not to send you this letter in the first place. It was hilarious."

"It was driving me nuts," Remus put in.

"_Anyway_," James said, a note of annoyance clear in his voice, "what was your answer to meeting us in Diagon Alley for lunch and to go shopping for our supplies?"

"Well, my Mum said she was planning to take me to – "

Lily stopped speaking abruptly as a knock sounded on her bedroom door.

"Evans, what was – "

"SHH!" Lily exclaimed as her sister suddenly opened the door.

"Freak, who are you talking to?" Petunia asked.

A moment of silence passed in which Lily clenched and unclenched her fists before answering her sister.

"Nobody, Petunia."

"That's a lie! I distinctly heard you talking! Are you hiding some boy in here?"

The Marauders heard the anger in Lily's voice when she had first replied, and they weren't surprised when she exploded at Petunia this time.

"How DARE you, Petunia!" Lily raged. "I'd _never_ do something like that! I'm not like you!"

"You BITCH!" Petunia screamed, and then stormed out of the room.

Lily sat down on her bed, the letter still near her pillow, as tears began to roll silently down her cheeks. After a couple minutes of silence, James decided he was brave enough to speak.

"Lily?"

Lily jumped, having forgotten the Marauders could still talk to her and hear her.

"What is it?" Lily croaked, her throat not working properly due to her crying.

"Are you okay?" Remus asked, concern present in his voice.

"Not really," Lily replied as she wiped away her tears.

"I knew your sister supposedly wasn't nice to you, but this – this is going above and beyond being mean," Sirius put in. "It makes me want to –"

"-Hex her into the next millennium," James finished for him. "D'you want us to come over there?"

"No," Lily replied. "I'll get over it. It's nothing new."

In the silence, James turned to look at Sirius and Remus with a wide-eyed and horrified look in his eyes. After a minute of wiping away some more tears, Lily made up her mind – she needed to get away for a while.

"Guys," Lily began, "I'm going out for a bit. I'll – "

"Lily, you shouldn't go out driving if you're upset, you might get into an – "

"Potter, who said I was going anywhere in a car?" Lily asked. "Hell, I don't even _have_ a car. I'd like one, but that's not the point. I'm going out, and if I don't hear from you again today, have a good day."

"You too," Remus said as Lily grabbed a light jacket and left her bedroom.

After a while, James decided to ask the question that had been running through his head since Lily left her bedroom to go 'out'.

"Where d'you think she went?" he asked.

"The same place she goes every time she's upset and not at Hogwarts," Remus replied calmly.

"And that would be…?" Sirius asked, interested.

"The park by her house in Surrey."

As soon as Remus had finished his sentence, James had hopped off the dresser he had been sitting on and left the room. Remus and Sirius quickly left the room and followed after him.

Down three flights of stairs James went, thumping all the way. Once he reached the first floor, he bolted down the corridor, stopping in front of the doors to the study. Without the thought of knocking ever entering his mind, James threw open the doors.

Sitting behind the study desk was Mr. Potter, and across from him was the Prime Minister of France. Both turned their heads simultaneously as the study doors banged against the walls.

"Dad?" James asked while trying to catch his breath from all the running he had done.

"Please excuse me for a moment, Mr. Jardin," Harold said to the Prime Minister of France.

"Go right ahead," Mr. Jardin replied, smiling.

The Auror-turned-Minister of Magic pulled James aside and looked at his son.

"James, what is it?" Mr. Potter asked. "I'm in a very important meeting with the Prime Minister of France right now, as you saw and so courteously interrupted, so you better have a good excuse for me."

"I need you to set up a portkey for me that goes to Little Whinging in Surrey," James said, staring at his father.

"_That's_ what you need?" Mr. Potter asked incredulously. "For what reason?"

Now that James was standing here with his father, he knew the reason was going to sound stupid even before he said it. However, he wanted to get there, so …

"To see Lily," James said simply.

"I don't want you causing her any trouble," Mr. Potter said, looking at James with a serious expression as he dug through the study desk drawer, "so take Remus with you. He'll make sure you don't get into _too_ much trouble."

Hearing this, Remus entered the study quietly while sweeping a stray piece of hair out of his eyes.

A yell of "Hey, don't forget me!" was heard from the hallway, followed by Sirius rushing into the study, his hair sticking up much like James' from running down three flights of stairs.

Mr. Jardin smiled at the scene before him as Mr. Potter found the item he was looking for (a bright yellow tennis ball) in his desk, pulled out his wand, and muttered "portus" before handing it to James, who grinned at his father.

"Are all these yours?" Mr. Jardin asked Mr. Potter as James tossed the tennis ball up, only to have it caught and stolen by Sirius on its way down.

"Nope," Harold replied as Sirius, Remus, and James left the study. "Only the one with the messy black hair that sticks up in all directions."

With that last comment, Mr. Potter sat back down and resumed talking business with Mr. Jardin.

Lily reached the park in five minutes, give or take a bit. It was empty, with the exception of four bunnies sitting under a tall oak tree about ten feet away from the bench on which she was sitting. Two of them looked smaller than the others – Lily thought they looked like babies.

The two baby bunnies started chasing one another around the park in good spirits. Lily watched them, thinking of Petunia and herself when they were younger. The very thought brought tears to her eyes, and within minutes, she was crying. Crying so hard, in fact, that she didn't even hear James Potter sit down next to her on the bench.

"Here," James said, holding out a linen handkerchief to Lily and making her jump slightly.

"Thanks," Lily replied, taking the kerchief out of James's hand and blowing her nose in it, not yet realizing who the kerchief and voice belonged to.

After blowing her nose several times more, Lily noticed the initials JAP embroidered on the bottom right corner of the kerchief.

_'JAP?' _Lily thought. _'Who is – '_

Her thoughts broke off as she looked up into James's face and gulped.

"Evans, are you okay?" he asked, a look of sincere concern on his face.

Lily's crying had made her so choked up that all she could do was shake her head no. In response, James handed her a second handkerchief and did something that he wasn't sure was too smart – he put his arms around her, pulling her toward him.

Remus, who was hiding behind some bushed with Sirius some feet away from where Lily and James were sitting, said, "That was _really_ stupid."

Lily visibly stiffened as she felt James put his arms around her, but after a few seconds, relaxed into his embrace. She was still very upset, but somehow having James hold her made the pain lessen.

"Shh," James said, holding her tightly and rubbing her back much like a mother would do to her child. "It'll be okay."

Lily continued to sob for another five minutes or so, and then finally using the handkerchief to dry her eyes.

"S-sorry I got your robes all wet," Lily said, pointing at the huge wet spot on the front of James's robes.

"It's alright," James replied with a smile. "They'll dry."

Lily put on a small smile as James brushed a stray piece of hair out of her eyes.

"So, what could be so horrible that it makes you cry like this?" James asked. "I've never seen you cry before."

"It's just – my – Petunia – she's – she's so EVIL!" Lily burst out, finally finding the right words to use.

"Was she always like this?" James asked, handing her yet another handkerchief.

"No," Lily replied softly. "Only since I got accepted to Hogwarts."

"Why? What makes you going to a different school than her a reason to be so evil?"

"You heard her," Lily replied, getting upset once again. "She thinks that because I'm a witch, I'm a freak, and I'm different. She likes things to be normal, the way they were when she was brought up. Anything else is wrong, and not the way she likes them."

"No wonder you're upset," James replied, looking straight at her. "D'you want to come back to my place? You're more than welcome to hang with Sirius, Remus, and I."

"No thanks," Lily replied, smiling at him. "Thanks for the offer, though. I really appreciate what you did for me today. It was awfully nice and quite unlike the you I usually see. I really needed it."

"You're welcome," James replied, smiling at her. "I hope you feel better, Lily."

"Thanks," Lily replied. "D'you want your kerchiefs back?"

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind," James said, grinning. "Once you wash them, of course."

"No, I'm going to stick snotty kerchiefs in your back pocket and make sure you keep them there for the next two years – of course I'll give them back once I've washed them," Lily replied, grinning back at him.

"Good. Then I'll see you at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah," Lily replied, smiling at him. "Have a nice rest of the summer."

As Lily returned to her house from the park that day, she thought, _'Wow. Maybe James Potter isn't so bad…'_

**A/N: I'm sorry for the REALLY long wait for this chapter, school has been really hectic, and my finals are next week. School ends for me on the 21st, so I'll be able to update more often. I also got a job, so that has been keeping me from having a lot of writing time. I promise, however, to try my best to update without months in between. Two weeks left until the end of school, and FREEDOM!**

**Hugs to all my readers and reviewrs,**

**Astronomylover**


	6. Chapter 6

A Marauder's Life For Me

Chapter 6

Less than three weeks later, Lily and her parents stood on Platform 9 ¾, gazing at the Hogwarts Express. People were scurrying around here and there like the white rabbit from Alice In Wonderland, loading their trunks onto the train and saying their goodbyes. After another moment of staring at the scarlet steam engine, Lily turned to her parents.

"I guess this is goodbye until Christmas," she said.

"I suppose it is," Karen Evans said, hugging her daughter tightly.

"Make sure to send us lots of mail," Richard Evans said.

"I will, Dad," Lily replied, letting go of her mother and hugging him.

Lily stood there in her father's arms for a few moments, trying to grasp everything about him that she would miss over the next couple of months. Little did she know that James Potter was standing not that far away, watching her. Just then, the Hogwarts Express's whistle blew, giving the warning to everyone on the platform that it would soon pull away from the station.

"I have to leave," she said quietly, letting go of her father, stepping back a pace, and looking at both of them. "I'll miss you."

"We'll miss you too, hun," Karen said, hugging Lily once again.

"I love you," Lily said to both of them as she walked towards the train.

Lily was ten feet away from the edge of the platform when the train began to move. Her eyes widened and as she began to run after it, somebody stuck out their hand to help pull her up. Lily grabbed the hand, which swung her up off the platform and onto the train. The force of the pull, however, caused Lily to knock into the owner of the hand, knocking both him and her over.

When Lily finally managed to get all of the hair out of her eyes, she was able to take in her surroundings. The train was traveling at full speed now, and Lily was lying on top of someone, the person who had helped her onto the train.

Lily sat up and turned to face the person who had helped her up, just as said person tried to sit up. The result: Lily and Remus's heads knocked, the force of which pushed them both back to the ground.

"Ouch," they said together, both rubbing their heads.

When the spots disappeared from in front of their eyes, each focused on the other.

"Thanks," Lily said quietly, trying to stand up and tripping on a bolt that stuck up off the floor, causing her to fall back on top of Remus with an 'oof!'

Lily and Remus stared at one another, neither moving, Lily still on top of him. They looked into each other's eyes until a voice was heard, one that was coming ever closer.

"Moony? Evans? Did we interrupt something?" Sirius Black asked as both he and James came down the train, stopping where Lily and Remus were in the corridor.

Both Lily and Remus scrambled away from one another, stumbling to get up, blushing profusely. Once they were up, they were consciously brushing dust off their clothes, looking anywhere but at Sirius and James, or at one another.

"So we _did_ interrupt something, then?" James asked, grinning broadly.

"No, you didn't," Lily said, her head snapping up and her eyes meeting James's. "Remus just helped me up from the platform and we fell over… into a very compromising position."

"Yeah, right," Sirius chimed in. "Like we're really going to believe _that_."

"You should," Remus said, finally speaking up and facing his friends defiantly. "Come on, Lily."

Lily gave Sirius and James one last look before leaving down the corridor with Remus. They headed down the train towards the Prefects' compartments; both Lily and Remus had been made Gryffindor 5th year Prefects that summer. Upon finding an empty compartment, the two sat down opposite one another and began to talk.

"Sorry about back there," Lily said again. "I really didn't mean for that to happen. I'm too damn clumsy!"

"You're not clumsy, Lily," Remus said, smiling at her. "We all have our moments."

"Mine just happen more often than everybody else's," she laughed.

There was a silence in which Lily yawned, got up, and took the seat next to Remus. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and as the train went over a particularly bumpy section of track, Lily slipped and her head ended up in his lap. She opened her mouth to apologize once again, but he just put a finger across her lips to silence her.

"It's okay," he said, smiling at her again. "You're tired, just rest."

Lily tried to rest this way, but she kept wriggling around to find a spot that was comfortable for her. Finally, she gave up and just sat up in her seat next to him. Remus, who had been watching this and smiling to himself, finally found a way that would ensure that she was comfortable.

"Come here," he ordered.

Lily looked at him, puzzled. She then stood up, looking unsure of what to do.

"Sit," he said, shaking his head with a smile.

She took the seat next to him again. Remus, who was sitting in the corner of the compartment, pulled her into his lap so that she could lean her body against the wall, but at the same time, make herself comfortable against him. After another minute of wiggling, she settled down, smiled at him, and closed her eyes. Within minutes, she was asleep, contentedly, in his arms.

Remus stared out the window, knowing that he couldn't move to get something without waking her. Half an hour later, there was a knock on the compartment door.

"Come in," Remus said quietly.

In walked Kat, Meaghan, and Daria, whose smiles became grins the moment they set eyes on Remus and Lily. They sat down on the bench opposite the two, and looked at him expectantly.

"So when did this happen?" Daria asked, her eyes twinkling.

"It didn't _happen_," Remus said pointedly. "It just sort of … happened."

"When did you ask her?" Kat asked.

"Ask her what?" he questioned, looking confused.

"Ask her _out_, silly," Meg said, giggling slightly.

"OH," Remus said, comprehension dawning on him. "I never asked her out. We're not … that close."

"Not that close?" Daria asked, shaking her head. "Not that close my ass! You'd go out with her as soon as she brought up the question."

"Well, besides that fact, that's not what's – "

"So you admit it!" Kat said, pointing a finger at him. "You do like her!"

"What guy in Hogwarts doesn't? Anyway, that's not what happened. She just couldn't get comfortable enough to fall asleep, and … this is coming out wrong," he finished, trailing off.

All three girls giggled as Remus blushed again, trying to recover from his blunder. After trying to start his explanation three more times and not getting anywhere, he changed the way he was going about things.

"You know, I don't tease _you_ like this!" Remus exclaimed, trying to hide his blush with mock-anger.

"I know," Meg said, nodding her head in agreement. "But teasing you is fun because we know you'll never retaliate."

"Are you sure about that?" Remus asked, pulling his wand from his pocked and smirking in a way that was much reminiscent of Sirius and James.

Just then, Lily shifted in her sleep so that she was snuggling more against Remus than the wall. However, she leaned in such a way that she slipped and almost hit her head on Remus's trunk, which was sitting on the floor by his feet. Thanks to his quick reflexes, though, he caught her right before her head hit the trunk. This whole series of actions was enough to wake her up.

"What's going on?" she asked blearily, sitting up straighter. "Where am I?"

Daria giggled and motioned to Meg and Kat, both of whom got up and headed towards the compartment door.

"We'll just leave you two alone now," she said, grinning, and shut the door behind her.

"They've been acting really weird today," Lily said, looking at Remus.

"Yeah, well, I think I know why," he said with a half-smile.

"Care to enlighten me?" she asked, grinning at him while moving so that she could make herself comfortable again.

"Well," Remus began, blushing slightly, "I get the impression from the conversation we had while you were asleep that they think we should go out."

"And what do you think?" Lily asked him.

"What do _I_ think?"

"Yes."

There was a pause in which Remus thought about it.

"I think – well, I know - I'd go out with you anytime, but that's just me," he concluded, looking at her. "How about you?"

"I'd like that," Lily said, smiling at him.

"So, it's official?" Remus asked, smiling at her. "You'll go out with me?"

"Yes, Remus, I'll go out with you."

Remus gave Lily a huge hug and pulled her back onto his lap and put his arms around her. She turned around to smile at him and he caught her by surprise, kissing her. When he pulled away, both were grinning. Just then, the door to the compartment opened, and in walked Sirius, James, Meg, Daria, and Kat, with Peter bringing up the rear.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Nothing really important," Lily said, looking at him.

"Really?" Meg asked, being much like Sirius, followed his train of thought. "Because I would say you're hiding something."

"Why would I hide something, Meg?"

"Oh, no reason, just that you don't want everyone to know you and Remus are dating, perhaps?"

Lily turned around and looked at Remus for a moment before bursting out laughing. Seconds later, Remus began to chuckle as well.

"Lily and I dating?" he asked. "Meg, where would you come up with such a ridiculous thought?"

"I think she's on to something, Moony," James piped up. "Are you hiding something?"

"No, Prongs, why would I hide something from you? Marauders don't lie or hide things from their best friends," Remus replied.

"Then why are you sitting on his lap, Lily?" Peter asked.

"Because I felt like it," Lily shot back, facing him defiantly.

"I say she's in denial," Sirius said, smirking. "Who agrees with me?"

Everyone's hands went up except Remus's and Lily's. Lily looked at Remus again, shaking her head.

"Wouldn't I be the first person to know if I was lying?" Lily asked, staring specifically at Sirius.

"Yes, but of course you wouldn't admit it to us if you didn't want us to know," he said, grinning.

"Oh, I give up!" she said, throwing up her hands before leaning back and relaxing on Remus's shoulder. "Think whatever you want, but know that you're wrong."

The conductor's voice echoed throughout the train, letting the students know that they would be arriving at Hogsmeade Station in five minutes' time. Sirius, James, and Peter left to change into their school robes, leaving Daria, Meg, Kat, Lily, and Remus in the compartment. Lily still had her head on Remus's shoulder and her eyes were now closed. Remus was talking with Daria, Meg, and Kat as the train slowed down, coming to a stop in front of Hogsmeade Station. Remus watched the other three girls exit the compartment, leaving him alone with Lily for the first time in about three hours.

"Lily?" he asked, shifting slightly.

"Yeah?" she responded, her eyes still closed.

"We have to help usher people off the train and into the Great Hall," Remus said, pointing to the badge pinned to the front of his robes. "We're prefects, remember?"

"Damn," Lily mumbled, moving for the first time in about an hour, standing up, and stretching. "Do we really have to go? Can't we just stay here?"

"No, sorry," Remus replied with a smile at her as he got up. "No matter how much I'd rather stay here, we have to go."

Lily sat back down again and motioned for Remus to do the same. He looked at her questioningly before doing so.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hold you hostage from doing prefect duties," Lily said with a smile. "I just … should we let the others know that we're going out?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Prongs will be angry when he finds out, but I expected that. I can handle him. The question is do _you_ want the others to know?"

"Yes and no," Lily said, smiling slightly. "I want to be able to tell them all the juicy details, but yet, I want to take the secret with me to the grave."

"I've felt that," Remus said. "You just have to decide which you want more."

There was silence for a moment as Lily debated whether or not they should tell their friends. Finally, she came to a decision.

"How about we keep it a secret for now, but we tell them eventually?" she asked. "That way, we have time to ourselves, but I get to tell the girls things in time."

"Fine by me," Remus replied with a grin. "And Lils, _juicy_ _details_?"

"It's just an expression," Lily said, shrugging her shoulders and grinning. "And you, Remus, _Lils_?"

"Well, I figured since we're going out, your boyfriend has a right to call you Lils rather than Lily," he replied, grinning just as much as her.

"Okay," she replied.

They sat there for a moment, looking at one another as if forgetting everything else around them. The longer they stared at each other, the wider their grins became. Finally, Remus walked over and sat down next to Lily.

"Don't we have to go?" she asked as he looked at her, mere inches away.

"We do, but now that I'm here – " Remus replied, stopping his sentence as he leaned in and kissed Lily.

"We have five minutes at most," Lily said, looking down at her watch.

"Five minutes it is, then," he replied, smiling, and kissed her again.

Five minutes later, Remus and Lily stood up, trying to fix their hair and clothes before leaving the compartment for the castle. Lily had conjured two mirrors, and was trying to brush her hair and do something to hide her swollen lips. A minute later, they were running up the lane to the castle doors, and after entering the castle, trying to catch their breath.

They opened the doors to the Great Hall in time to see Professor Flitwick exit with the Sorting Hat and stool in hand, on the way to return them to Dumbledore's office.

"We missed the Sorting," Lily whispered to Remus.

"Yeah, well, we _aren't_ on time," he replied, grinning at her.

Together, they entered the Great Hall and slipped into seats at the Gryffindor table. There were only two seats left, and they were right next to the Marauders. When they sat down, the heads of the three Marauders and the fifth year Gryffindor girls turned to face them.

"Where _were_ you?" Sirius hissed, looking at the two of them suspiciously.

"We were – " Lily began, but was saved the trouble of inventing where they were by Professor Dumbledore standing up to make his beginning-of-term speech.

"Good evening, students, and welcome back to another wonderful year at Hogwarts. For those first years that have just been sorted, welcome to Hogwarts! I'm sure you'll have a great time here, like the rest of the students and staff. Now, for my start-of-term announcements. First, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to all students. Second, Hogsmeade is only open to third years and above, all of whom must have their permission slips signed by their parent or guardian. Third, there is to be a Winter Wonderland ball sometime in December, most likely Christmas Eve, for fourth years and above. Those are all my announcements for now, enjoy the feast!"

As Dumbledore sat down, food of all types appeared on the tables and chatter broke out in abundance.

"A ball!" Kat exclaimed, excited. "That means we get to bring dates!"

"Speaking of _dates_," Sirius said, turning to look at Remus and Lily, who were seated next to one another, "where were you?"

"We were – " Lily began, only to be cut off by Remus.

" – Helping solve a problem with some of the second years," he said, grabbing the plate of steak and dishing some for himself before passing it to Meg.

"What _type_ of problem?" Daria asked, grinning at the two.

"Well, one of them had a cat they wanted to take to the feast with them, and another – stupid Slytherin – had let loose a snake on the train to scare the younger students – he was a sixth year – and then made us help him find it again! What a jerk!" Lily ranted, waving her fork in the air.

"No more forks for you, Evans," James said, grabbing the utensil out of her hand.

"Give it _back_, Potter," Lily growled, her anger rising rapidly.

"No," James said simply, holding it just out of her reach.

"What do you expect me to eat with if I don't have a fork? My hands?" Lily asked, her voice growing ever louder.

"It's not hard," Sirius said, looking at her.

"Maybe not for a pig like you," she said, rounding on him. "Give it back."

"No," James said again, taunting her.

"Uh oh," Remus said softly, knowing what was coming.

Until now, the Gryffindors' heads had been going back and forth between James and Lily as if watching a tennis rally. However, they stopped when Lily drew out her wand and pointed it at James.

"Give me my fork," she said slowly, her left hand extended, palm up.

"Tut tut, Evans," James said, completely unfazed by the wand pointed in his face. "You know hexing other students isn't allowed."

"Well, in your case, I'll make an exception."

"What're you going to do to me? Turn my hair blue?" James asked, remembering what she had done to him last year.

By now, both were standing on opposite sides of the table, their fight going unnoticed by any other the teachers, but none of the Gryffindors.

"No," Lily replied, lowering her wand so that it was at James's waist height, "but I will make sure you never have any children."

James's eyes widened as he quickly dropped the fork on the table and sat back down. Lily, angry but satisfied, grabbed the fork and took her seat once more. Chatter broke out amongst the rest of the Gryffindor table after a few seconds, with the exception of Lily and James, who spent the remainder of the feast in silence. It seemed that things were back normal between the two of them once again.

**A/N: Here's another chapter for your reading delight. Hope you enjoy - please read and review!**

**Astronomylover**


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